Istanbul, June 3, 2013--The press has come under fire from
both government officials and protesters amid nationwide demonstrations in
Turkey, with instances of attacks, obstruction, detention, and vandalism being
reported, according to news accounts and local journalists.

The
government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is quick to brand critics as
"terrorists," and that's one of the main reasons that Turkey was the world's
worst jailer of the press when CPJ conducted its recent census
of imprisoned journalists. This week, the prime minister and two pro-government
newspapers applied the label once again to critics, illustrating the extremely
difficult climate confronting any Turkish journalist who challenges official
positions.